


for good reasons

by hermitreunited



Series: bad things bingo [1]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Bad Things Happen Bingo, Gen, Hurt Klaus Hargreeves, Hurt/Comfort, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Klaus Hargreeves Whump, Klaus/Dave is discussed but not like. an active couple., a little 'mission gone wrong' sort of oneshot, like he's THIS CLOSE away from asking for one tbh, post not-apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:46:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23777080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hermitreunited/pseuds/hermitreunited
Summary: They gave him something, to get him to talk. A lot of it, because it wasn’t working at first. ‘Secrets you don’t want to tell,’ they said.aka, It’s routine day-saving until Klaus gets dosed with some kind of truth serum that turns Diego’s most secretive brother into a forcibly compulsive over-sharer.
Series: bad things bingo [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1737727
Comments: 48
Kudos: 647





	for good reasons

**Author's Note:**

> My first entry for my Bad Things Happen Bingo card! Prompt: Truth Serum
> 
> Thanks to the anon who asked for this! I'm not sure if it's quite what you wanted but it is at least now completed. I started this as a wip literally a month ago and I am the slowest writer alive but suddenly yesterday I was possessed with a violent need for whump and now this finally exists.

Diego doesn’t _want_ his first reaction to be rolling his eyes, when they break into the safe house where the latest villains have been keeping Klaus and Allison. They are getting better at this kind of stuff, being a team again, so the two of them haven’t even been missing for a full day. Thirteen, fourteen hours tops.

That’s all the time it takes, apparently, for Klaus to get himself strapped to a chair with a needle sticking out of his arm, mouth running. Diego doesn’t know what the IV is pumping into him, but they picked the worst person likely to have a problem with it. Sure, Klaus is sober these days, but his tolerance has still got to be better than any of the other Hargreeves.

And, well, that’s the thing, isn’t it? They’re fighting back against a cabal of sinister forces trying to control the world, fighting to break their siblings out of the evil clutches of master criminals, and it’s Tuesday. Diego’s throwing knives and Luther’s being big and Klaus is tied up and blabbing, and everyone is doing what they do best, or at least, the thing that they do most.

The team is split down the middle on the morality of killing the people they fight, which basically just means the others leave it up to Vanya, Five, and Diego to handle that part. Suits Diego just fine.

Luther’s first priority is freeing Allison, obviously, and as soon as it’s clear that the situation here in the basement is handled, Five jumps away to search for information in the rest of the house. Vanya follows after him, and, because it turns out Diego is just as predictable as everyone else, he heads to Klaus.

He doesn’t look too much worse for wear, a few scratches and bruises from getting snatched, but nothing serious. His eyes are screwed shut, but there’s no way he didn’t hear his interrogator being taken out, so Diego doesn’t know why he’s still talking.

“At least it was a place to sleep, you know? The locks are really the only thing that made it different.” Klaus’ hands are balled into fists so tight they are shaking. “Or at least, the only part that made it worse.”

“It’s okay, Klaus,” Diego says. “We’ve got you now, we’re getting you out.”

It’s clear Klaus hears him from the way he flinches away, as much as the restraints will let him. But he doesn’t quiet down.

“I just kept thinking that it didn’t make sense why it they’d put you in prison for that, because that’s the same thing I had to do inside. What was that fixing? But,” Klaus heaves in quick, tight breaths, “I wanted to.” His face screws up in pain. “Fuck! I just - fine, I wanted people to think that, I wanted _me_ to think that, but I don’t, not always, I know I don’t, I just don’t want people to know - ”

If he doesn’t want people to know, why is he _still talking?_

Klaus cuts himself off with a whine, biting down on his lip like the words need something to hide behind.

In the corner, Luther’s got Allison free enough that she can rip the off the gag they used on her. In a rush, she says, “They gave him something, to get him to talk. A lot of it, because it wasn’t working at first. ‘Secrets you don’t want to tell,’ they said.”

“Redundant!” The word bursts out of him. “If I wanted to tell, I wouldn’t keep it secret.”

Klaus has never been particularly shy about his addiction, and Diego hopes, for one stupid moment, that maybe Klaus is too much of an open book to have much more to say, but he knows that’s ridiculous before the thought has finished crossing his mind. Nothing about their lives has ever been that painless.

“Mom taught me that, you know. Any sign of weakness and she had to report it back to Sir Hargreeves.” Klaus spits the name out. “She’d tuck me in after he got done with me, remind me how my father was a good man who was doing his best.”

Diego has always wanted to murder their dad, but never more than in this moment. That he did this - to Klaus, to Grace, to Klaus by using Grace - he swallows back rising bile.

“Can’t say it didn’t come in handy, though.” Klaus laughs. It’s a chilling sound. “An important lesson, being able to hide how you really feel in bed.”

“Hey, stop that.” Diego says. “Stop talking.” He tries to keep steady as he pulls the IV out. Not looking at the needle part of it. Or thinking about it. Usually Klaus is good at distractions, but this time, Diego doesn’t want to think about what he’s saying, either.

Klaus whimpers. “I was just a kid,” he says. “I know I deserve a lot of what I get but I was just a kid then and I just wanted someone to care.”

Diego throws the needle to ground and takes Klaus’ sweaty face in his hands. “It’s okay, okay? You don’t have to keep talking.”

For the first time since they’ve come in, Klaus opens his eyes. There is an unexpected warmth in them; it feels like pity.

“I’m sorry,” Klaus says. 

It’s an apology, in his eyes.

“No.” Diego shakes his head. He has to say more, he has to say more so that Klaus can’t say anything else. He can’t hear Klaus apologize right now, he has to do his damn job as a superhero and come up with a plan to save his brother. 

But in too many ways, it’s already too late for that.

“I’m sorry,” Klaus says again, in spite of what Diego wants to hear. “I can’t stop talking; I want to, I would love to. I can’t. It’s the fucking drugs, of course it’s some kind of drug. Typical me.”

It’s not typical. It’s not something Klaus chose for himself, not this time. Someone did this to him. Diego opens his mouth to say so, but he’s stopped by the image of Mom patting a crying Klaus on the head and telling him that Reginald was hurting him for good reasons.

“I know I’m always doing stuff you don’t want me to do. The talking, the drugs. I know it’s not fair that the junkie whore is the brother that got to stay alive.” He tilts his head in an attempt at a shrug, and he smiles, with lips that are quivering and eyes that are wet. “I’ve tried, really I have, but never been able to fix that. I’m so sorry.”

Diego grabs him by the shoulders and shakes as he pleads, “Klaus, stop. Just stop it.” It’s instinctual, but it’s a mistake. “Please.” He’s gripping too tightly.

Klaus presses his eyes closed and clamps his mouth shut, but he’s gray and trembling with the strain. The tremors grow stronger, and all Diego does is watch because he doesn’t know what to _do._

Luther’s voice says, “Diego,” and suddenly Diego realizes that he and Allison are in the room still too, and that they’ve heard all of this too, and that there’s an itchy tear stalled out halfway down his face and he smudges it away but that only lets another loose, and he doesn’t know what to do about any of it. They both look just as horrified and helpless as he feels.

The restraints that Diego hasn’t removed yet are the only thing keeping Klaus from toppling to the floor. He’s shaking so violently that he’s practically seizing, from effort, or pain, or both.

Klaus clarifies it for him. It’s both. He can’t hold back an agonized wail, or the words that come spilling out after. “I just wanted there to be someone who cared about me. But if you have to _ask,_ then you already know the answer. I know I’ve never been any good, I know I’m worse than useless, but I still want it. It still hurts - it always hurts.”

At least giving in to the confessions provides him some measure of relief. He slumps in the chair, panting. 

Maybe that’s the end of it? Diego wants to untie him and get out of this fucking house already, but if Klaus is going to start convulsing again, it’s probably better that he have something holding him secure. 

And he’s not fighting back against it. In his attempts to stay quiet, Klaus is fighting his own body and losing. He’s not doing anything to try to fight back against the situation itself, not even straining at his bonds. It’s acceptance bred from familiarity, Diego realizes, and then he’s springing into action to cut him loose immediately.

“I’m used to it, so that’s - that should make it better, make it easier, knowing what to expect.” Klaus sighs. “It’s just a different kind of hurting, when people live up - down - to your expectations.”

His arms and legs are free now, but Klaus still doesn’t move.

“Except for with Dave,” Klaus says. “I’ve never felt that before; no one else has ever made me feel like that.”

Diego really doesn’t want hear this, but he’s going to anyway. He hopes he gets enough specifics so that when this is over, he can hunt this Dave guy down and put him through double of whatever he did to Klaus. Whatever was so singular as to stand out from the rest of Klaus’ impossibly painful life.

“He made me feel like he was happy to see me.”

It’s a punch to the gut that leaves Diego speechless.

“Like me being around made his life _better,_ not worse.” Klaus’ expression has softened into the closest thing to ‘peace’ that Diego’s ever seen on his brother’s face. “Like I was smart and brave and beautiful, but worth more than just my looks. Like I was something - not a thing, a some _one -_ someone _precious._ Like I was loved.” He smiles. “And _christ,_ did I ever love him.”

There’s so much here. So much Diego wants to hear about, and so much they need to talk about. But everything about this situation makes it the wrong time.

“I didn’t know I could do that, even. Love someone, like that. It’s just handing someone the keys to hurt you, and plenty of people do that without my having any say in the matter. It only makes sense to limit that, if you can. So I should have, and maybe I could have, but then, I just - I didn’t want to.”

He’s staring off into something far away and welcoming. “And I still - oh god it feels like there’s something inside of my chest clawing my heart into pieces, now that he’s gone. It hurts more than anything, but still. I don’t regret loving him, not for one second.”

“Klaus,” Diego says gently. 

Klaus blinks himself out of his distant gaze, disoriented, like he forgot other people were here. The others are crowded in closer now, even Five and Vanya are back and intently listening.

Diego keeps his tone soothing and calm. “Klaus, do you want to talk about this?”

Klaus jerks back, the beginning of a head shake. Then he pauses, the ghosts of happier times dancing across his features. “You know? I think I might, actually.” Finally, he moves of his own accord, reaching over to rub the bruising spot where the needle had been. He swallows. “Soon.”

Diego nods. “But not like this.”

Klaus opens his mouth, but chokes on the words. Apparently, he was going to try to lie. He shakes his head. “I want to tell you, all of you, I think, but no, not like this.”

“Okay,” Diego says. “I think I can help, but it’s going to suck.” He pulls a knife free from his harness, and flips it around so the hilt is facing outwards. 

“You’re going to hit me in the head with that, then?” 

One of their siblings smacks him, and there’s a general outcry behind him about it being a terrible idea, but no one comes up with anything better, and there’s only one person whose agreement he needs.

Klaus smirks. “I’ve had way worse, bro. You don’t even want to know.”

“Sounds like my cue then?” 

Klaus nods quickly as he gasps out the start of another secret. “Our dearest father really got me good when - ”

Diego really doesn’t want to know that story, but he’s not going to be able to stop thinking about it until he hears the rest. But Klaus is silent, now.

“Sorry,” he says to Klaus’ still form.

Then it’s quiet, way too quiet for this many Hargreeves all in one room. Way too quiet for how this room has been so far. None of them have anything to say. 

That’s for the best, he thinks. It’s not theirs to talk about. Not until ‘soon.’

**Author's Note:**

> The bit about Grace is very much just a _bit_ in here, but it's the very cliff-notes version of a whole 'nother story that I am now trying to figure out a bingo square to fit...
> 
> You can come be buds on my tumblr @hermitreunited if you want, and maybe you can even get me to write a prompt for you, but not quite what you asked for and also a solid month later rip


End file.
